In case you missed it, Leahy’s Truth Commission is moving forward!
Obviously all of us would MUCH prefer a Special Prosecutor, preferably armed with some form of newly minted magical anti-ICan’tRecall powers. But in the short (by govt. standards) time since the inauguration, when we all hoped that the first words out of Obama’s mouth after So Help Me God would be…..ARREST THOSE MEN!!! … the signs have not been good.
In fact instead of the being the best part of the new administration, Eric Holder’s DOJ has proven to be the most disappointing so far. State Secrets, Illegal Detention, White House E-mails, the DOJ has to the public eye, come down on the wrong side of every issue concerning the Bush Crimes.
Whereas Sen Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) has been chomping at the bit to go after the War Crimes of the Bush Conspiracy to Commit Torture. And it looks like he will be the head the Judiciary Committee’s Truth Commission.
From the Raw Story coverage…
Leahy’s office told Raw Story Wednesday morning that a press release would be sent out shortly.
Sen. Whitehouse said he’s “convinced” the investigation will move forward.
“Stay on this,” he told Benjamin. “This is going to be big.”
Whitehouse, Senator from Rhode Island, is “spearheading” the efforts,
and as a member of both the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, “is
privy to information about interrogations he can’t yet share,” the magazine noted.
We all know how ridiculously bad Government Commissions can be, which is why we favor a Special Prosecutor. But apparently we are going to get a TC before we get an SP. So OUR challenge now is figuring out how we can interact and influence the TC. While still pushing for a Special Prosecutor.
Important note: Both Whitehouse and Leahy have been fairly careful in saying that prosecutions are still possible, stemming from the information revealed by the Commission.
There have been no Commissions since the inception of the Blogosphere. At least no ‘friendly’ ones. We need to come up with new strategies, tactics and perhaps alliances that will give the blogs, give the Citizens, some influence as the Commission moves forward, to hold the Commission accountable.
Obviously a TC is not what we want, but it looks like it is what we will be getting, at least initially. The question for us now is how to use the power of the blogs to keep it from being a whitewash and to make sure that prosecutions DO result from the Commissions findings.
It is Thinking Cap time.
My initial thoughts:
We need an ‘inside track’ to as many Commissions members as possible. Iow, finding a way to open a dialog with, or at least funnel info to, members.
We need a large pool of people ready to call and e-mail when needed to put pressure on.
We need a dedicated group of people tracking every move of the Commission and publicizing it on teh blogs.
Obviously DD cannot do ALL of that by ourselves. To be effective this has to be a wide and highly populated effort…while we still push for prosecutions.
Your thoughts are welcome in the comments.
It is not what we want, but to tell the truth, it is more than the cynic in me really expected!
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that if the commission finds crimes may have been committed, they will be referred to a special prosecutor. It’s really that simple.
You emailed me last week and said we need a new badge, but you didn’t explain for what or what you were thinking, so I have no starting point here and really didn’t get what it is you had in mind… help me out here. 😉
Well, at least you DIDN’T say that such a commission would preclude the appointment of a Special Prosecutor.
Here is one of the problems with the DoJ department 51 Loyal Bushie U.S. Attorneys Still Wreacking Havoc with our “Justice” System
But you should know about this movement, which is going on right now:
see the list thus far here
Why can’t we start screaming to our representatives that we want a Special Prosecutor? Once again, it seems decisions are being made for us. Why do we have to accept this? So many scholars, such as Jonathan Turley, Marjorie Cohn, and many others have stated unequivocally that this is not the way to handle the situation and have urged a Special Prosecutor, themselves.
Our best argument is that while the Commission is fine, we have a legal obligation under the Conventions Against Torture to investigate and prosecute torture. Since this Treaty is still in effect, it is the law of the land, there is no legal, constitutional way to avoid it. We keep asking the question: Senator Whitehouse, do you stand by your oath as an officer of the Court to enforce the law? Do you stand by your oath of office to defend and protect the Constitution?
If the answer to either of these questions is yes, then you are required to prosecute torture.
We should and can not back away from this position, it is our best and strongest argument.
the IT guy.
http://groups.google.com/group…
Plus keep in mind those totally empty seats to the left and the right of Obama’s bulletproof “secure” parade stand on innauguration day. No idea what was up with that yet it reached out from my paranormal world like the Biblical breaking of the Seven Seals.
Still say any “movement” in this area is throwing the peasants a crumb of appeasement as another is added to the real list.
http://www.mp911truth.org/
Oh, back to what we were talking about?
Buy a gun even if you hate guns. Scare the living crap outof em by flooding local police with massive requests for gun permits.
even enforce the subpoenas they issue to the inner circle of Bushes cadre. The concept of executive privilege and state secrets (two fascistic concepts in themselves) remain intact. If they were serious they would repeal the laws like the Patriot Act and the AUFM which made these crimes ‘legal’. Leahy has no intention of producing anything except another 9/11 report a reem of paper that declare the intelligence was faulty and they had to.
Boggs, Cooper, Dulles, Ford, McCloy, Russell, and Warren.
Specter as Chief Counsel.
These guys will get to the bottom of things.
… Obama said “we do not torture.”
I winced when I heard that. How on earth does he know at this point, even with all his big powers, whether or not we are still torturing? How could he say that?
Over at the orange there’s a diary showing we are still torturing.
I wish Obama hadn’t said that line. By any definition, it’s a lie.